Well, I must admit I was surprised at this one.

The band, don't get me wrong, were excellent - flawless, in fact - I was even more impressed when I learnt that they were improvising due to their drummer leaving the band only a month previously.

I went to the gig with 3 other mates expecting it to be quite busy but nope, if there were 30 people there it was as much which is kinda worrying - I need bands who have a set fan base who'll follow them... worried isn't the word!!

When the end of the gig came, I was expecting all of the band to come and meet with me to discuss the set but it turned out only the bassist (drummer for this gig) Owen had the manners to stick to our plans and we discussed everything and he made me feel very comfortable about having them at the gig, he's offered his services as a sound tech so one venue may let me use it completely free *woohoo* - what were the other band members doing, you may ask...

Chatting up the blonde groupies

It's not sex, drugs and rock & roll in that order for nothing!!

I must admit that I am looking forward to tonight on a serious level.

I still have a bad neck/left shoulder & I still have this recurring headache/sickness thing going on but this is the first time ever in my whole life that, instead of being the auditionee, I get to be the auditioner... so to speak...

Tonight I'm going along to Barfly in Cardiff to listen to one of the bands I've got signed up for The Wildlife Rescuer 14+ gig "TWR Rocks". The band, The Dirty Looks (http://www.myspace.com/thedirtylooks) are an awesome Indie band from Cardiff who were one of the very first bands to offer their services. So I get to chill out, relax with a drink with my best mate, enjoy the music, then look super cool chatting to the band about the in's and out's of my gig after their set .

If they're not good enough... well, I can't see that happening.... we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

Go me!!

I'm so bored! It's been a hectic day. I took Monday-Wednesday off to recover from the rush that was the Bluetongue outbreak last week & to take care of my puppy, Tehya, post-op (neuter). It was great - daytime tv, long walks over the common, staying in bed an extra hour... wasn't looking forward to today because I knew it was going to be busy.

Busy is the understatement of the century

I walked into the office at 9:15 this morning - I couldn't see my desk for the number of letters, files and telephone messages scattered everywhere - & I've got a pretty enormous desk!! I could feel my blood pressure rising before I even took my coat off. Then there were the 134 emails, most of which had "urgent" or "important" somewhere in the title... wow!

By 10:30 I was only halfway through checking my emails; I hadn't even attempted to combat the files and paper post. Isn't it always the way when you've been working solid hard, the minute you stop to do something for you (like, in this instance, open a personal email - an important email about the wildlife rescuer gig, no less), your boss is right there looking over your shoulder... groovy... anyway, he asked me to compile a report with statistics re which local authorities were tail docking working dogs - which had the highest percentage, which month was the busiest, what breed is being docked the most... oh & best of all, I had an hour to do it in before he went to a meeting to discuss said figures... slightly raised blood pressure now resulted in pounding temples.

Somehow, I managed it - go me! Even before I could revert back to my emails I was having pressure from aforementioned boss about analysing and reporting on the electric shock collar consultation (can I point out here that I am NOT a trained statitician, I'm not keen on numbers & putting information in every order imaginable doesn't thrill me!!) When there were around 130 responses, some more than 30 A4 pages long, I'm not rushing to start this!! Hell, I've not even semi-completed the Equine Code analysis and that consultation was less than half the size and it ended a month ago!! No, I'm not lazy, I don't procrastinate *much*, I've just got too many responsibilities!!

Lunchtime came, I decided to down tools and grab a sandwich... much deserved!! I pick out my favourite, go to the till only to find they've hiked the prices up this week - inflation - & guess who didn't have enough money!! Yep, I had to borrow off my colleague - how embarrassing!! For the sake of 9p!

The afternoon was spent going through my emails - some were painful, others were pointless. I found out that I have to spend 2 (yes, a dreaded overnight stay) days at an away day event thingy next month in Swansea & I had to email the organiser with my 'waterproof trousers' size - Medium; my dietary needs - none; and "an interesting fact about yourself that nobody knows about" - where do I start? I don't do sharing information with colleagues. I gave 3 or 4 examples (my partnership in SBTS Autographs, my love of rock music, my musical background & something quite exaggerated to make me sound cool). What on earth are they planning on making us do over a whole 2 days!?? I know one day will be field training with the Quack Pack (look them up, they're wicked!) but will the rest be, like, bonding and forward planning!!?? Neither are my favourite topics...

Later this afternoon I was hounded by a union rep candidate trying to get my vote - I hope he got the gist of my "do you realise how desperate you're being" look.

Anyway, I left work at 4:30 - I couldn't handle anymore. I had the "you need to know where you're going to be in 10 years time and start planning now" speech off my boss - 10 years!?!? 10 years ago I was in my first year of high school - I was naive, slimmer, I wasn't a misanthropist and I thought I was the cleverest little cookie on the planet (in reality, my primary school peers were as thick as proverbial poo); that seems a lifetime ago, I don't wanna even begin to think where I'm going to be a lifetime in the other direction!! I may be married, I may be a yummy mummy, I may be homeless, I may be famous... I just don't know & I don't like to plan!! I think the point of his speech was "we're paying for your wildlife rescuer training, we expect some kinda commitment back" but if he thinks I'm still gonna be on £20k in 10 years time, he's got another think coming - in 10 years, I'll be earning a lot more than him *that's the plan anyway*

Since I've got home I've had slight cramp in both my legs - joy of being back in work, sitting down all day etc - not enough exercise - I hate this feeling, like you need to stretch out your muscles but whatever way you try just doesn't work... gonna jog around the block with Logan (older dog) later - it's too cold and late to take Tez (puppy) out.

Oh & a valid point was raised about my gig... PLI (Public Liability Insurance)... hmm, hadn't thought of that one. Is that likely to be covered by the venue? Do I have to pay it? May be worth asking!!

Oh & that's another thing - the sodding lift door closed on my wrist earlier! Bloody hurt an' all but no mark means I can't sue grrr... that money would've done loads for the service...

Right I'm babbling, I'm going for that jog

Adios folks!

What a stupid weekend!!

It started perfectly - I went to my fella's as per and, for only the second time since I met him, he'd gone to a huge effort for whatever reason - he was in a shirt & jeans, he'd made a huge dinner and he'd bought DVD's he KNEW I'd like (one had Christian Bale in therefore a definite winner). To say I was impressed was an understatement!

As the night went on he got drunker and drunker. He'd polished off a whole 100cl bottle of vodka the night before on his own and it was obviously affecting his stamina tonight. By 9:30 I brought him a pint of water to rehydrate himself so he didn't damage anything. I put it on the table next to him & he kicked it all over me (he swears it was an accident but I'm not so sure). I storms upstairs, quite annoyed, to get changed, thinking he'd be right behind to apologise. Wrong. I hear him pouring himself another glass of vodka & juice. When he did finally come upstairs, I was over the anger and I laughed it off.

10pm came and he could no longer speak, walk etc so we went to bed. I was quietly proud that I'd controlled the situation - hopefully he'd wake up bright & early with a small hangover and we could at least enjoy Sunday.

I celebrated too soon.

1am: he wakes me up by kicking and punching. I thought he was throwing a drunken strop but when I tried shouting at him he didn't respond and soon started snoring - he was still sleeping. Soon after he tries to get outta bed so he could relieve himself, have a smoke etc. As I mentioned earlier, he couldn't walk so he fell over straightaway. His room is full of junk so I can only imagine what he fell onto - glasses, bin, video/DVD cases... he finally managed to get himself back up and tried to walk again, only to fall over again this time onto his weight machine. Obviously, I helped him - he was in no position to attempt the stairs on his own. & yep, he did fall - fortunately on his bum all the way down without dragging me with him. Once again I tried to get some water down him but again most of it ended up on the floor as he couldn't grip the glass properly.

I finally got him back to bed and he slept through until 4-5am when he started being sick... this happened a good 3 or 4 times during the next few hours.

10am... I was still wide awake and he was waking slightly, in a great deal of pain and very hungover. I left him in bed and went downstairs to watch tv. We were expected at his mum's at 1pm so 12pm I woke him up, to which he asked to be called again in half an hour.
This carried on until 12:50 when he finally got up, showered and got ready - we were 20 minutes late.

His mum is a very sweet lady who I have a lot of time for; today she gave me a gift.

A bottle of heavy duty anti-wrinkle cream

Not quite sure how to take that... lol...

I received a text from mum on the way home asking me to get a birthday card for my aunty on her behalf. I bought the best of a bad lot, gave it to mum who responded with the classic "oh right... thank you"

GRRRRRR

So I'm meant to be going back to Damian's tonight after he's had some more sleep but right now I'm more than happy with my own sober company.

He's done it again... my gorgeous boyfriend Damian has managed to do it again... he's turned my foul mood into utter happiness - how does he do it! I texted him almost in tears telling him I was so angry and unhappy and he rings me, we chat lightheartedly for a while & then he goes
"Um.. odd request.. I'm doing a cross-dress sponsored walk Thursday... can I borrow some of your clothes?"
Instantly I burst out laughing - the thought of my muscley, macho dude in a skirt and pretty top walking around Wales... I can't get the image out of my head and it's making me laugh so much...

I HATE INSURANCE COMPANIES!!!!

I have had the sodding day from hell!! All day in work people have been tense and annoyed at each other and it's rubbed off - I had to deal with 2 telephone queries about tail docking asking questions I had no answers to & the more I think about it, there are so many loopholes in the Regs I can't understand how they can possibly work!!

Then there was the drive home - an hour for a 12 mile journey - y'kno the people I hate - the IDIOTS who sit in the middle of a slip road - A SLIP ROAD IS 2 LANES

Then there was the letter from the insurance company when I got home - I was involved in a minor bump last month - settled privately - apparently the other fella contacted his insurance company as a precaution & because I didn't contact mine, they're now charging me nearly £400 for the privilege - thank f*k I cancelled the direct debit earlier today (end of insurance cover on Friday, no intention of renewing with them) so now I have to ring the person dealing with my case tomorrow to sort it out... in the office... he only works office hours... to say I'm angry is an understatement I'm FURIOUS!!!

I wanna kick something... hard... last time I was this angry was when I failed my driving test 3 years ago & my door got it bad... there are still marks on it to prove it!!

So angry... & it's only Tuesday which means there's potentially another 3 working days of idiots to deal with and general annoyance to be had.

I f*n love my life sometimes(!)

Some of you may have read my previous blog about my puppy, Tehya, being neutered on Friday. Well, I'm very glad to say she's doing great. She had me up at 5:50 Saturday morning & she's barely stopped since, running around the house like a mad thing. She's caught the stitches a couple of times but nothing serious. I've kept the wound clean and she's not seemed bothered.

My fella and I took her and Logan (older dog)on a walk around the local fields earlier today & she enjoyed every second running ahead and barking at cats.

The only thing she is finding difficult is her diet - she's still gobbling her food as soon as its put down then licking her bowl & looking at me sadly as if she's dying of starvation! She's very jealous that Logan's getting proper treats & she's only allowed carrot sticks or ice cubes!!!

Thanks to everyone who's been asking after her!!

I am SUCH a worrier! Today, as much as I didn't wanna do it, Tehya, my Beagle puppy, was booked in to be neutered. Why? Because my older dog, Logan, is her half brother & if they mated the puppies would have so many problems, I'd never be able to live with myself. Mum & Dad are in Bournemouth this weekend so it's just me & my bro at home.

I dropped Tehya into the vet first thing this morning and spent the day worrying; the nurse who took her from me was, shall we say, lacking in the personality department - covered in tattoo's with brightly coloured hair, I guess she's not long out of college. No reassurances, no letting me say goodbye - she took the lead from me and pulled my bewildered pup into the consultation room shutting the door in my face... wasn't happy, especially as I had a list of things to tell the vet about my poor puppy - she's never been without Logan, she doesn't like wearing her collar indoors, she makes a grumbly growly sound when she wants to go outside to relieve herself but hey, they're professionals. I'd be back 6 hours later to collect her. 6 hours is nothing, right?

Wrong

Work was completely pointless. I barely did anything all day except watch the clock. The nurse had promised to ring me as soon as Tehya came out of the operation but 3pm came without a word. I rang to make sure she was ok and was informed that she'd had the operation in the morning and was absolutely fine - thanks for putting my mind to rest(!)

4pm, I was finally at the surgery to pick her up!

The same personality-deprived nurse greeted me, took my money, then told me my puppy's overweight and that she's now on a weight loss programme; that meant she'd have to be brought in every month for check-up's - sod that! I ask to see her chart - she's just 1.5 kilo's overweight - hardly life threatening so there is NO WAY I am wasting my money on monthly weigh-in's that I can do myself at home!

She finally brings Madam out... baby Tehya... she was more awake than I expected but she still looked disorientated. Fortunately, the only bit of fur they'd shaved was on her leg presumably for a drip. She seemed more interested in sniffing the other patients in the surgery than greeting me but I didn't care, I was too glad to have her back.

Since getting her home, she's not done much more than sleep. Logan keeps giving her lots of kisses!! She's had a bit to eat and is currently curled up in front of the fire. Hopefully tomorrow will be comfortable for her - I wasn't, to my surprise, given any painkillers for her, so I hope that means she's over the worst of it!!

What a strange f*n day!

I wake up as normal next to my fella, we share a shower, he makes us sandwiches, i go to work. I was in the Merthyr office today for a training course - Presenting Data.

I expected to learn how to analyse data and the best way of showing different types of information - i was sorely disappointed. It was like a maths lesson with Lurch as the tutor - I was told how to make a pie chart and how to round up long numbers - big deal

I was very much looking forward to seeing my old boss, Gaynor, today. She is my professional hero. She's a dragon; won't let anybody boss her around & always gets results. She taught me so much in a short space of time. Without her, I don't think I would've got my promotion (& I wouldn't have done the Prince's Trust so wouldn't have met my fella!) She is, in a word, an angel! It was great catching up; she said I've lost weight (& as my fella said that last night too I'm inclined to believe her) & she was impressed when I told her about the work I'm doing. She also gave me lots of good advice that I can use in the future.

2pm this afternoon I got back to my office in Cardiff. 40 emails were waiting for me & a telephone message from Lord ** ** - great(!)One of these emails was from Gem, my best mate. Long story short, she seemed to be venting at me because she'd had a bad evening the night before - she ranted about the rubbish film she'd seen at the cinema, the fact work was dull, she thought her fella was taking her for granted & it ended with her saying she's jealous of what I have with my fella... hmm odd. Her fella's a nice, understanding but sarcastic guy who keeps her on her toes, much like mine. She's never showed any jealous tendencies towards me before so I knew this was serious. So I rang her, we chatted more, she revealed that she's super stressed & everything's bugging her etc. but she'll be fine in the morning. Weeeird day.

Best part - we're going to Download yay!!!!!

Had a pretty awesome business idea too but gonna give it more thought before I share it :-)

I'm tired... oh so tired... I was up at 6:30 this morning, out by 7:30, drove for nearly 2 hours to Mid Wales for a meeting then was home again by 3:30... ok, the meeting was more like a giggle between me & a good friend and I enjoyed every minute of it, but man I'm so tired!! All I wanted to do when I came in was fall in a heap on my bed and let myself float away into tranquility but nope.

Mother dearest has decided to dump my laundry, my mail, my bags, my coats... everything that may possibly have been found outside of my room is now on my bed... so that's why I'm blogging... to try and get my mind working, to wake me up, to stop myself screaming... it isn't happening...

My eyes hurt... my muscles are lethargic... my feet still hurt from Friday... Friday! Let me tell you about Friday!

It was meant to be a big posh classy girly night which meant pretty dress and pretty shoes - not my forte! The dress looked hot (not meaning to sound big headed but it looked great!) and the shoes looked great... but I have the most sensitive feet in the world and I knew they were gonna hurt so I packed in my tiny handbag a box of plasters and gel pads and antiseptic cream stuff to get me through the night...

Cardiff was deserted - the threat of snow meant most places were shut and the only people in town seemed to be crazy. We went from bar to bar being chatted up by losers (drunks, lonely middle aged men, horny Scottish guys on a stag do to name but a few). Then 'coincidentally' we bump into my mate's boyfriend (in her 'favourite' club that we'd never gone to before). We left an hour later, but after finding out our destination club was deserted we headed back only to find the boyfriend sat on a sofa in the club chatting to a skinny gorgeous blonde - the type every other woman hates because they're not her. Cue serious jealousy on my mate's part - I insist we go elsewhere so she doesn't do the heavy needy gf thing but soon we were back in the club. She storms past him to get a drink (he, incidentally, was very drunk and I am in no way villifying him, he's a great guy and would never cheat on her). Next hour - serious arguments between them, me being sent away so they could 'work things out', me getting bored, feet hurting... hell!

Obviously they made up, the fella left, the horny Scots surrounded us, my feet start bleeding - cheap plasters not doing their job

Next, 2 women who were the personification of Miss Piggy start shoving me from behind as I'm trying my best to dance and look happy to chavvy music as my feet throbbed. Once I could forgive. Twice I could write off as a mistake. Three times, hell they were fat & probably crap dancers. A fourth time, this was getting annoying - suddenly they're right up in our faces cheesy dance-off style. I laugh mockingly & say (loud enough for the horny Scots to hear - maximum embarrassment is key in these situations) "I don't DO dance-off's unless I have some real competition" - they then tried to do the pervy lesbo dance thing that I've never understood - they looked old and very desperate. One wasn't wearing a bra and had a low-cut shirt... I hope I don't end up like that. Oh & they stole my sandal when I took them off for relief... childish? Yep, but the horny Scots came to my rescue - 1-0 to me, piggies

However, I did realise something over the weekend - I want to be a horny posh middle-aged lady in 20 years. The type who have husbands way too old for them and have affairs with the gardener or tennis coach... I watched Wimbledon & Midsomer Murders and both had typical middle-aged posh ladies trying it on with men half their age & i liked the idea - give me something to look forward to because right now growing old is very depressing - my fella is feeling his age, he can't rest his head on his knees anymore (I didn't mention that I've never been able to do this) but I know there's a lot I too could do that I either can't or am too scared to try anymore.

Anyway, back to Friday! Mate and boyfriend are back to normal, the Miss Piggy tribute act have buggered off and the horny Scots have found new people to perv on. We then go to what I thought was a very posh, quiet, sophisticated lounge. I thought it odd that we were the only women there and that we were getting so many obvious looks from what I considered respectable looking men. Then we found out why.

The upstairs was a strip bar

Exit stage left!

It's 3am. I'm cold, tired, my feet are in agony... we pass a bus shelter where a fat woman had a skinny man pinned against the back screaming in his face. Her mate was helping my slapping him constantly. The bouncers in the club next to the shelter egged them on... I risked getting myself hurt badly by saying, quite loudly, "Ye, very classy ladies" ... lucky for me they were too busy to notice &/or care.

Not one of my best nights... it'll be a while before I hit anywhere beside a rock club in Cardiff again